Restaurant in Amalfi Coast, Italy
Michelin-starred seafood, book ahead.
Sensi is the Michelin-starred (2024) restaurant of Amalfi's Hotel Residence, set inside an 18th-century palazzo metres from the cathedral. At €€€€, it earns its price if fish and seafood are your preference. Book three to six weeks out for summer visits — this is a primary reservation on the Amalfi Coast, not a fallback.
The most common mistake visitors make with Sensi is treating it as a fallback option — somewhere to try if the bigger names are full. That framing is wrong. Sensi holds a Michelin star (2024) and sits inside an 18th-century palazzo metres from Amalfi's cathedral. This is a primary booking, not a contingency. If you are planning a special occasion dinner on the Amalfi Coast, Sensi belongs at the leading of your list, not the bottom.
That said, booking difficulty is real. The Amalfi Coast draws heavy international traffic from late spring through early autumn, and a Michelin-starred room in the centre of Amalfi town will fill weeks out. Plan a minimum of three to four weeks ahead for summer visits; for August specifically, six weeks is more realistic. Sunday dinner is the tightest slot — lunch on weekdays (Wednesday through Saturday) gives you the leading chance of a shorter lead time, though don't count on walking in.
Sensi is the gourmet restaurant of the Hotel Residence, housed in a building with genuine architectural weight. The interior pairs the palazzo's classical bones with a contemporary colour palette drawn from the coast itself , the kind of design decision that either works completely or reads as forced. Here it works, partly because the setting earns it and partly because the approach keeps the room from feeling like a museum.
The cuisine is Mediterranean with a clear bias toward fish and seafood, which is the correct call for this location. The Amalfi Coast's proximity to some of the most productive waters in the Tyrrhenian Sea means that sourcing quality here is not a marketing claim , it is a geographic fact. Restaurants at this price tier on the coast live and die by their fish supplier relationships, and Sensi's Michelin recognition signals that the sourcing decisions are being made at a level that justifies the €€€€ positioning. A handful of meat dishes appear on the menu for those who want them, but if you are coming to Sensi and ordering away from the sea, you are working against the house's strength.
At €€€€ pricing, you are in the same bracket as La Caravella locally, and broadly comparable in investment to Michelin-starred coastal restaurants elsewhere in Italy. For context on what that level of commitment buys in other Italian fine dining rooms, see Dal Pescatore in Runate or Le Calandre in Rubano. On the Mediterranean more broadly, the cooking philosophy here has parallels with La Brezza in Ascona and Arnaud Donckele at Louis Vuitton in Saint-Tropez, both of which prioritise coastal provenance as a structural principle rather than a menu footnote.
Sensi is well-suited to celebration dinners and significant dates. The palazzo setting provides ceremony without stuffiness, and a Michelin-starred room in one of Italy's most photographed coastal towns carries its own occasion weight. Couples travelling the Amalfi Coast for a milestone event should prioritise the evening service , dinner runs 7 PM to 10:30 PM daily except Tuesday (Tuesday is the weekly closure, worth noting when you build your trip itinerary). Lunch runs 12 PM to 2:30 PM Wednesday through Saturday, with Sunday lunch not offered.
For business meals, the setting works , the combination of a historic building, serious food credentials, and a location that impresses arriving guests makes for a strong choice. The noise and intimacy calculus of the room is not something we can confirm from available data, so if a quieter environment is critical, contact the restaurant directly when booking to ask about table placement.
At €€€€, Sensi is a serious financial commitment. The honest question is whether the Michelin star and the setting justify the cost against the broader options on the coast. The answer is yes, with one condition: you need to want fish and seafood. The Mediterranean sourcing approach at this level means that the kitchen's leading work is built around what the sea provides. If your group has a meat-forward preference, Borgo Santandrea may be a better fit. If budget is a consideration and you want strong seafood without the fine dining overhead, Marina Grande at €€€ delivers good value in that tier.
For Italian fine dining at the absolute leading of the register, Sensi is in credible company. Restaurants like Osteria Francescana in Modena, Enoteca Pinchiorri in Florence, Enrico Bartolini in Milan, Piazza Duomo in Alba, and Atelier Moessmer Norbert Niederkofler in Brunico represent the ceiling of the category in Italy. Sensi operates in a different register , more coastal, more tied to place , but the Michelin credential puts it in the same conversation for travellers building a serious Italian food itinerary.
Sensi is at Via Pietro Comite, 4, 84011 Amalfi. Hours run Wednesday through Saturday for both lunch (12 PM–2:30 PM) and dinner (7 PM–10:30 PM), Sunday dinner only (7 PM–10:30 PM), with Monday lunch and dinner also open. Tuesday is closed. The address places it within steps of Amalfi's Duomo, which makes it convenient for guests staying in town and accessible from nearby coastal bases. No booking method is listed in our data , go directly to the Hotel Residence or search for the current reservation channel before you travel. Google reviews sit at 4.6 across 351 reviews, a signal of consistent guest satisfaction at scale.
For broader Amalfi Coast planning, see our full Amalfi Coast restaurants guide, our hotels guide, our bars guide, our wineries guide, and our experiences guide.
| Venue | Cuisine | Price | Awards | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sensi | Mediterranean Cuisine | €€€€ | All five senses will be satisfied by a visit to the gourmet restaurant of the Hotel Residence. Housed in a splendid 18C palazzo just a few metres from the famous cathedral, the restaurant boasts an interior design which combines modern and functional features with the building’s classic look, using a colour scheme which is typical of the Amalfi Coast. Although the cuisine focuses mainly on Mediterranean fish and seafood, the menu also features a few meat specialities.; Michelin 1 Star (2024) | Hard | — |
| La caravella | Venetian | €€€€ | Michelin 1 Star | Unknown | — |
| Alici Restaurant | Seafood | Michelin 1 Star | Unknown | — | |
| Borgo Santandrea | Italian Coastal | Unknown | — | ||
| Marina Grande | Seafood | €€€ | Unknown | — |
Side-by-side comparison to help you decide where to book.
Sensi is set within an 18th-century palazzo in central Amalfi, which means space is finite and tables at a Michelin-starred property fill quickly. For groups of 4 or more, contact the restaurant well in advance — this is not a venue where walk-in group seating is realistic at €€€€ pricing. Smaller groups of 2 are the easiest format to accommodate.
Solo dining at a formal Michelin-starred Mediterranean restaurant is workable but not the natural fit here. The palazzo setting and €€€€ price point are better suited to a paired or small-group experience where the occasion matches the ceremony. If solo fine dining is your intention, call ahead to confirm counter or single-seat availability.
The menu focuses primarily on Mediterranean fish and seafood, which is where Sensi earns its Michelin star — that is where to concentrate your choices. The kitchen also offers a small number of meat dishes, but the seafood-forward selections reflect the Amalfi Coast setting and the restaurant's core strength. Specific dish availability changes seasonally, so check current offerings when booking.
At €€€€, a tasting menu format at a Michelin-starred restaurant on the Amalfi Coast is a serious spend, but it is the format that best showcases what the kitchen does with Mediterranean seafood. If you are visiting Amalfi for a single significant meal, the tasting menu makes more sense than ordering à la carte. For a lighter or shorter meal, à la carte is the lower-risk entry point.
For Michelin 1 Star Mediterranean dining in a historic Amalfi palazzo, Sensi delivers a credentialled experience that justifies the €€€€ pricing if that level of occasion is what you are planning for. Against local competition, it sits at the formal end of the market, so if you want a serious seafood dinner rather than a casual coastal meal, Sensi is the right call. If the price range feels steep, Marina Grande or Alici offer strong Amalfi Coast seafood at lower price points.
Yes — Sensi is one of the stronger cases on the Amalfi Coast for a celebration dinner. The combination of a Michelin star, a genuine 18th-century palazzo setting a few metres from Amalfi Cathedral, and Mediterranean seafood-focused cooking gives a special occasion real substance rather than just scenery. Book dinner service (7 PM–10:30 PM) for the better atmosphere; lunch works but feels less ceremonial.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
